Page:The Celtic Review volume 4.djvu/187

174 The spelling of other words, such as àmhuinn, cliamhuinn, Samhuinn, sleamhuinn, shows u in place of a after mh owing to the u sound of mh. In West Ross this u is heard in a few instances, e.g. dàmhair, làmhadh (a. hatchet), miamhail (mewing), reamhar, while amhaich (for amhach) is there ‘ahuich.’ Sàmhach, quiet, which may be heard as ‘sà-ach’ in Rannoch and Skye, is ‘sà-uch’ in West Ross and Sutherland and ‘s’è-uch’ in North Argyll. In East Perth ‘sà-uch’ and ‘sòch’ are both current; the latter is the pronunciation also in Strathspey. The accented vowel always and the other usually are nasalised in those pronunciations.

Mh final in monosyllables with long vowels is often u in Perth, Strathspey, and Sutherland, e.g. in cnàmh, freumh, gniomh, làmh, naomh, nèamh, pràmh, ràmh, riamh (ever), snàmh, snìomh, tàmh, and others.

In words of more than one syllable amh or eamh final is sounded u more or less frequently throughout Northern Gaelic and almost invariably in East Perth and in Sutherland, as in àireamh, aiteamh, caitheamh, claidheamh, ordinal numerals ceithreamh, coigeamh, etc. The only exceptions observed in the former of the two districts named out of about two dozen instances are caitheamh, claidheamh, one pronunciation of falamh, soitheamh, ullamh, and in the latter district claidheamh and falamh. In West Ross, on the other hand, in this class of words u is heard only in breitheamh, deanamh, ealamh, talamh, teagamh, and the ordinal numerals. In Arran this pronunciation is heard in àireamh, breitheamh, and in Kintyre in breitheamh, teagamh, and ordinal numerals with the exception of ceithreamh.

w

In Perth, Strathspey, and Sutherland especially the sound after short accented a or e sounds is w rather than u, as in amhairc, amhuil, gamhainn, Samhuinn, and genitive Samhua, sleamhuinn; amh, damh, creamh, leamh, samh (smell). W occurs sometimes before a liquid or other consonant, as in amhlair, samhladh, gamhnach (farrow cow),